Collection: Malvasia

Malvasia is one of those complicated stories. Essentially, Malvasia refers to a grape family made up of countless, widely scattered members—many of which are only rarely related to one another in any meaningful way. The name itself derives from the Cretan port city of Monemvasia, which is most likely the variety’s original home. From there, it was spread throughout the Mediterranean by Venetian merchants—after all, Crete had belonged to the Republic of Venice since 1204.

Thanks to its quality, Malvasia quickly gained immense popularity. And like anything that’s highly sought-after, it became a target for imitation over the centuries. Malvasia began appearing in France and the Canary Islands, in Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, and Croatia. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—in fact, many of these versions undoubtedly contributed to the grape’s excellent reputation.

Naturally, the Malvasia boom didn’t stop at Italy’s borders. It became so popular among Italian winegrowers that today the official Italian grape registry lists 18 different varieties under the name Malvasia. They don’t always have much in common genetically—but many of them produce truly fantastic wines.